On September 19th 2009, I had been invited over by a friend for a party. Upon arriving at his house, I found out the reason for the party was that one of his roommates was celebrating her birthday. I had never met her, nor gone into the situation knowing it was her birthday, but I did my best to make it no big deal, as did she.

Throughout the night we continued to bump into each other, making small talk, and even dancing a little at one point. However, being at a house party with about 50 other people celebrating her birthday presented quite the challenge in terms of getting to know her that night.

A couple hours later, as Chris and I were leaving Stephanie decided to walk us out. She told me that she wanted to hang out and get to know each other, but as I left that night I wasn’t really sure it was ever going to happen.

The next day, her roommate was asking me what I thought about her (sounding like he had been prompted by her to do so lol). So I got her number from him and a couple “witty” text messages later I was able to secure a date.

Later that week, I picked Steph up at her house for our first date and headed off to ice cream. Having changed the environment we were getting to know each other in, we found that we had way more in common. We found that we shared similar life goals, interests, hobbies, and our faith.

A couple months into dating, we decided we wanted to get involved with a local church, so we started going to The Father’s House in Vacaville. We learned a lot about who we are individually, who we are going to become together, and how to truly love one another and honor God.

Over the next year we fell deeply in love and became best friends. We were a catalyst of growth in each others lives in so many aspects. Stephanie has taught me so much and helped me to grow in so many ways that I can’t imagine listing them all here.

Last November, after months of saving and planning I was able to buy an engagement ring and ask Stephanie to be my wife. As you likely guessed, she said yes =)